Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, The Lunar Paragon's Core Area. Gathering his thoughts to make sure that he forgot nothing, Laeroth resumed talking. “I know that Marc recounted the story for which I became famous in the Hoborg Empire. What he didn't know, because I didn't informed him yet, was that, as you felt, I reached the Early Level 9 Mortal, which allowed me to unlock the jade slip that the mysterious woman left me. However, when I was at the peak of happiness, thinking that I could finally see her after hundreds of years, I discovered her identity. Her name is actually Qin Xiuying and she is the daughter of the current Emperor of the Qin Empire and his most doted princess.” Hearing him mentioning the Qin Empire, Hei Qiang furrowed his brows, while Guang Hua interrupted him immediately and asked in a solemn tone. “When you say Qin Empire, are you talking about the Peak Level Empire?” Nodding his head to confirm her guess he added. “It's exactly the one I'm talking about. Forgive my presumptuous question, but you two Lady and Lord seem to be from the Qin Empire's Light and Darkness Fox clan, am I right? And although I don't recognize the baby's bloodline, seeing how closely he resembles the two of you, he should be your son, am I correct?” Hearing the two questions, although she did not answer him due to her surprise, Hei Qiang nodded to him to confirm his suspicions. Despite staying silent during those interactions, one could see slight curiosity in Bai Yue's eyes, which prompted her to mumble. “Qin Empire, uh? I don't remember there to be such an Empire all those years ago. I guess it is as the idiom says, 'The blue sea turned into mulberry fields'.” [A/N: Time will change many things, to the point that those things sometimes become unrecognizable] She sighed and asked out loud. “So this Qin Empire is the place you three come from, correct?” That question surprised the three Hoborg native, since they thought that they were blood related. After all, with their lower cultivation level, they could not tell anything from the masked woman situation, while they could feel that the type of energy coming from the three were from three high level Mana Beasts. However, only Laeroth could guess the exact type since he visited the Qin Empire before and met some people from those two clans. How could they feel that the trio were not humans? It had to do with energy characteristics. Think of it as a root system. The highest point was the origin Laws of the Wanderer's Realm. By going down, it branched out into big classifications such as humanoid species, mana beasts, etc. If one went down again into humanoid species, for example, one could find humans, elves, etc. Down again into the elves sub-species and one could find wood, dark, light, etc elves. And if you go further into whatever sub-species one could find the individual characteristics of the cultivator that are influenced by many factors, such as cultivation level, method of cultivation, etc. When one reached the rank 2, one turned their internal sense that, as the name implied, could only be used to inspect one's body, into Divine Sense. The latter allowed the cultivator to feel the outside world with a different 'sense' than the classic ones. To describe how it felt, one would define it as mixing every other 'classic' senses (touch, taste, hearing, seeing and smelling) and maybe more into one, improve it and use it to feel the outside world, more or less far depending on its strength. The higher one's cultivation was, and the stronger one's divine sense was. It could go further, be more precise, and even attack other's souls by using soul techniques such as killing intent. By combining it with your internal mana, techniques such as telekinesis could be performed. It was a deep and complicated subject. Going back to the discussion. Guang Hua nodded and not caring if she revealed anything, she said. “Yes. Actually while we were fleeing from the two clans, with a few enemy spaceships less than a day away from us, we encountered a wild portal that appeared in front of us. Because we were injured from the chase and since they could track us wherever we went because of their bloodline tracking magic, we decided to go through that portal. After all, it was either we died from their attacks or we risked going through an unknown portal with an unknown chance of survival, but still a better chance of survival. After discussing together with my husband, we chose to risk it. The moment we went through it and appeared on the other side, it disappeared as if it was never there. We were lucky since it transported us in the wilderness, not far from where you found us. We thought we would be safe there, but we were too naive...” She seemed a bit down after saying that. However, when she looked up and saw Bai Yue, she smiled with happiness in her eyes. “Not everything went badly since we found little Yang a teacher, and a new family member to add to our own small family of three.” Hei Qiang also had a small smile on his face when his wife conveyed both of their feelings. Although Bai Yue noticed how she felt closer and closer with those three people that she met less than a month ago, she felt surprised as to how direct the woman was. Her declaration made her feel a surge of happiness and belonging for the first time in millions of years, which prompted a beautiful and natural smile to appear on her face. Indeed, after she lost her parents all those years ago, she felt empty and aimless. She kept cultivating and fighting, and cultivating and fighting again. She joined many organizations, fought in many wars, survived by trampling on billions of corpses. She became one of the most feared cultivators in each of the Realms, although because of the lifespan of Mortal Layer cultivators, she was forgotten here. She almost reached the peak of the three realms, but the emptiness inside of her was not filled one bit. At that point she lived almost like a soulless corpse. She could have made friends or even get married, however, the Laws she cultivated made her close off her emotions, and she couldn't find anyone to open her frozen heart up. Until she met that adorable baby a few weeks ago. When she saw him, she felt a weird feeling taking hold of her heart. Although she was not experienced in relationships, she guessed that mothers should have that kind of feelings towards their child. Or maybe big sisters towards their younger siblings? She was not really sure, as she never had any siblings nor had any child of her own. All she knew was that the moment she saw him, she knew that she would do everything to protect that little life and his happiness, even if she had to destroy empires or steal from Peak experts for that. He gave her back the will to enjoy life. Now that she thought about it, it seemed ironic to her that his bloodline was of the Immortal Life Fox. She inwardly sighed at how life could be so whimsical. Once her frozen heart began to thaw, she began to use her heart to 'feel' the closest people of Little Yang: his parents. The way they would interact with each other made her laugh and annoyed her, like children at times, and responsible adults at other times. They fought with each other, loved each other, trusted each other. They reminded her of her own family that she missed so much, a feeling she chose to hide subconsciously inside her heart to numb the pain of their loss. Noticing how genuine they were with each other, with their son and even with her, she felt an irrepressible desire to be part of this loving family of three, to belong somewhere warm where she would be loved and trusted. Multiple times she mentioned that the four of them were family when she presented herself to outsiders. Although it was because she did not want to explain too much to unrelated people, it was also because of her hidden desire kept deep in her heart. That's why, when she heard Guang Hua reveal and realize unwittingly her deepest wish, a torrent of emotions overwhelmed for a second before she calmed herself down a second later and said in a tone more akin to a late afternoon of winter, where the sun warmed the snow that felt the previous day, instead of the usual snowstorm of indifference. “Yes.” Was all she could say, as she was not used to convey her feelings to others. However, she saw the two of them freezing in shock, with even little Yang looking at her with amazement in his eyes. She felt surprised at their reaction, which made her smile recedes and her face turned back into indifference with a slight flicker of confusion in her eyes. She then proceeded to ask them. “What's wrong?” Which made the two regained their mind from their shock. The little baby was even clapping his hands while laughing with his face turned towards his parents, as if mocking their attitude. A tinge of red appeared on Guang Hua's face, showing her embarrassment which unwittingly increased her attractiveness. After seeing her husband still looking at Bai Yue, she elbowed him in the stomach, which made him fall on the floor trying to endure his pain. After the young mother snorted to show her displeasure at her husband's behavior, she answered her with a wry smile. “I apologize senior Bai, but your mask suddenly disappeared and when I saw your peerlessly beautiful face, all my brain seemed to malfunction.” Hearing her answer, not only Bai Yue, but even the three natives were surprised. While Bai Yue touched her face to feel her face, she mumbled. “It disappeared... Why?” Laeroth and the other three looked at Guang Hua as if she was mad and the former said. “What do you mean by 'disappeared'? It is still right there. And from the expression on Marc and Illia 's faces, I'm guessing that they still see it too.” They nodded. “Yes.” “That's right.” Hei Qiang who stood back up after his small punishment, still holding his stomach but keeping a poker face, said. “I don't know about the three of you, but I'm pretty sure that the three of us can see senior's face.” His intervention confused everyone even more. After all, a physical object should either be there or not there, right? Or could it be an illusion? But then why would it affect some people and not everyone. Especially, since Laeroth had a higher cultivation than the other two. Bai Yue also pondered for a few moments, after which she raised her head to look at the others and shared her guess. ”If I'm not wrong, it should be some kind of very high level restriction. I've found that mask a long time ago, when I was very weak and even now I can't understand how it was made or even all of its function. From what I gathered, it should have something to do with danger and trust. The first one I'm sure of, since I've proved it many times in the past when the mask turned my body into an average appearance if the one looking or using his or her Divine sense on me was a danger to me. If the person is of no threat then he or she can see my body but vaguely. And from what happened just now, it seems that when my trust towards someone reach a certain point, then the mask disappeared from the person's view. What a magical Item...” She finished in a low voice. After she ended, she felt a bit surprised at herself for sharing one of her deepest secret which was that mask. After all, it saved her life many times from situations of certain deaths. She inwardly wondered. “Am I... Changing?...” What she did not realize was that although the trust built those past few weeks was an important factor of how opened she became, it was mostly because even if she told anyone that secret, no one could threaten her. At least in the Mortal Realm and Immortal Realm. That feeling of safety allowed her newly 'melting heart' to let her be more carefree. After all, one could not change one's behavior cultivated for millions of years, from one day to the next, so she couldn't become extremely open right away. The two adult Foxes felt delighted in their hearts after hearing that. Once she was done explaining, she turned back to Laeroth and asked. “You were interrupted previously. Go on.” Hearing her words, he nodded. “As I was saying, Qin Xiuying is a Qin princess. And she is an extremely talented one. Even among the whole Qin Imperial family. From what I gathered when I went there to look for information, she is the most likely to reach the Immortal Layer and ascend to the Immortal Realm in the young generation. That being said, if she was allowed to be married to anyone, it would definitely be someone from a very high status and as talented as her, or at least with talent not too far from her.” He sighed after he stopped talking. After which he resumed. “Although I feel like I'm talented enough, I don't have a high status. And when I reach Peak Level 9, she would either be married to someone already or she would have ascended, which would destroy any hope of being with her.” Everyone there could feel his depression. Though Guang Hua had a question that puzzled her. “I don't want to destroy your hope, but, are you sure that she would want to be with you in the first place? After all, she may have teased you a bit, but that doesn't mean anything, especially if it was that long ago.” Hearing her question that hit the bullseye, he replied, embarrassed. “Well, I can't say for sure, since what you said is right. I may have been only a little spark in her long life which amounted to nothing.” His hesitant tone turned into resolved before adding. “However, I won't give up, even if the situation is insurmountable. After all, if I don't even try, then I will fail anyway. I might as well risk it. She is definitely worth it.” A smile appeared on his face after his last sentence. However Bai Yue was feeling a bit impatient at those lovestruck's sounding words, which prompted her to remind him in her calm but indifferent tone. “Stop beating around the bush. What did you want from us? And what are you prepared to pay in exchange?” From the slight tinge of impatience in her tone, he guessed that if he were to continue wasting her time, she would definitely refuse his request. So he quickly replied. “Of course. What I wish is for senior to take me under her wing as a subordinate. That way I would have a high level backer, which would made my status increase enough to give me a chance.” He hesitated a bit before adding. “As for the payment... I am really good at collecting information. To be honest, the network of informant I created in the Hoborg Empire is even superior to the Imperial family's one. I don't know if it's enough for senior?” Seeing as the woman was so powerful, she might not need his skills. After all, when one had a certain amount of martial power, one did not need to look for information, as people naturally came to you to offer gifts, so as to ask for favors in the future. Information could be one of those gifts. Listening to his proposal made her think. “If I was still alone, I wouldn't really need anyone else. However, now that I have xiao Yang, Hua'er and xiao Qiang [A/N: Xiao is, in this situation, the Chinese word for little. It is used as an endearing term by someone with a generation superior to the one called. It is followed by the first name. The ['er] after the first name is similar but can also be used by the same generation. I will probably use those terms alternatively.] I can't afford to be sloppy. Taking him as our subordinate may even bring more benefits that I can think of right now. Although, I gave that choice to the old looking couple on a whim, I might as well see it through to the end.” After thinking about everything, she made her choice known to the others in a solemn tone. a mighty aura emanating from her. “I don't mind taking you as a subordinate, but once you've made your choice, you can never go back on it or I will destroy you. It will be the same if you betray us. To make sure of that, you will have to swear a Realm's vow, stating your eternal loyalty to my family. Now that the restrictions are stated, let's talk about rewards. First, you would be appointed as the head of our family's secret network, only below the four of us. Second, you will receive a Peak Divine Cultivation scripture. Only the Mortal Part at first, and the rest after I'm certain of your competence and character. Third, once we reach the Immortal Realm, and you the Immortal Layer, you will get an Immortal weapon and an Immortal Armor a rank higher than yours. You wouldn't be able to activate a more powerful one anyway. As for the rest of the benefits and resources, it can be discussed in the future. Also any benefits given can be withdrawn depending on your performance, and although I wouldn't throw you out if you were incompetent, the benefits given would certainly be less. If after all that, you still wish to be our family's subordinate, then tell me quickly. Otherwise, I will just erase your memory and we'll go on our way.” She then stopped talking to wait for his answer.